


Gone Girl

by snxwscene



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Multi, My First Fanfic, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2019-06-21 15:46:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 20,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15561120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snxwscene/pseuds/snxwscene
Summary: »I need someone to show meThe things in life that I can't find.I can't see the things that make true happiness;I must be blind.«... in which two lost souls you'd consider most unlikely to even get along discover they actually have a lot more in common than they thought ...[Stranger Things S2]





	1. Billy

The sound of a car pulling up in front of the house made me snap out of my trance, which I had fallen into after staring at the wooden floor for long enough; I quickly picked up my backpack and locked the door behind me.

Jonathan Byers, one of my few friends, greeted me with a genuine but visibly tired smile and I mumbled a quick "Good morning." while buckling up. I didn't have a car myself, so for the whole past year Jonathan had been kind enough to pick me up every morning, since my house was on the way to school anyway.

I leaned my head against the window, looking at the last few leaves which were falling to the ground, covering everything in a sea of color. Just a couple days and everything would be drenched in Grey and not the most beautiful shades of Orange, Red, and Brown we could see right now.

"Hey, Lucy. You still with me?" Jonathan asked and I sighed. "Yeah, sorry i-" - "…wandered off? Yeah you always do that. Anyway I was asking if you've noticed anything odd lately?" I tilted my head slightly. "Not really, no. Why? Is something going on? With Will maybe?"

I had helped them out quite a bit when Will was stuck in the Upside Down last year, which brought all of us even closer together. He was getting regular check-ups at the Lab which was now being lead by some other guy who claimed to be on the good side; I wasn't one to judge but I just hoped they really were trying to make things better.

"Ah it's nothing. Just thought I'd ask." He fixed his gaze onto the road after obviously trying to brush off the topic. Knowing I wouldn't really get any further information out of him unless I could shapeshift into Nancy Wheeler right on the spot, I let it be and resumed staring at the trees fleeting by.

Soon enough we pulled up to the school's parking lot - Jonathan's little brother Will was usually taken to school by his mother ever since the incidents of last year.  
I could make out the usual suspects in the parking area - the bullies standing around near the trash bins to the side of the building, as well as Carol and her Entourage leaning on the side of a car.

Without a word both of us got out and slammed the doors simultaneously, I let out a chuckle, then proceeded with a rather unimpressed look on my face. It was easier like that and over the past two years I figured out, that in a shithole like this with equally as shitty people a mask was the easiest to go with. I didn't speak a lot, and if I did it was with Jonathan or Steve, and before she was taken away also Barb.

"Well that's a nice car," One of the douchebags near the entrance whistled and almost everyone turned around to look at the unfamiliar blue Camaro with a California license plate.

A short ginger girl got out and skated off towards the Middle School immediately. Shortly after a guy got out on the drivers side, looked around like he owned the place and smirked towards some of the girls who were already busy drooling.

"I don't think I'll ever understand the whole denim on denim thing," I murmured and pulled Jonathan into the hallway after me.

"He does have a nice car though," He chuckled and I raised an eyebrow. "Wanna bet that's the only nice thing about him? Did you see that awfully cocky smirk? Gross." I opened my locker, threw my bag in there and grabbed the History book and a binder.

When I turned around my friend had already vanished into thin air without a single word and I let out a sigh, heading towards the classroom after having closed my locker again.

∞

Throwing my leather jacket over the back of the chair I placed the book and binder on the table before sitting down, staring out of the window. On the first day of school of each year so far I had made sure to be at school early enough to save myself one of the seats in the back. I didn't really know whether it was because the back of the room was closer to the wall, thus nobody could really creep up on me, or just so I could have an overview over the entire room whenever I wanted. Either way it surely was some way to calm my temporary paranoia that I got every once in a while, even more so since the incidents of last year.

"Well then, I would like to introduce a new student to you!" I jumped a little at the sudden yell our teacher let out to capture everyone's attention.

I'd zoned out again. Great.

Readjusting myself to a more acceptable sitting position I looked to the side and noticed the guy from earlier this morning standing there. Again, he had this smirk on his face, very well aware that most of the girls present were already fawning over him and his mullet again.

"Name's Billy Hargrove. Moved here from California. Pleased to meet you."  
I almost gagged at the face Carol on the other side of the room made, the new guy was told to sit down and Mr Brown began talking. I opened the binder and started to doodle on the pages whilst occasionally noting down some of the things he emphasized at least seven times. Those were usually the facts he'd ask for in a test.

"Hey Lucy," Someone next to me hissed and I looked up. "Can you give that to Billy?" I was handed a folded piece of paper and raised my eyebrows. This was like sixth grade all over again, but much more annoying.

Without a word I took the note and threw it over his shoulder onto his table, since he was conveniently sitting right in front of me. Great. I should start asking for money right away.

I heard the girl next to me giggle, shook my head and resumed my sketch, until Billy turned around and placed the note on my desk. Without looking up I tossed it to the side, somehow did not miss the table, and added the second ear to the tigerhead I was currently drawing.

∞

The bell rang and cut off Mr Brown, who was just in the process to add yet another topic to the next test, but people stormed out of the room faster than he could open his mouth again to stop them.

Stretching a little bit I grabbed my stuff and walked back to my locker, where I found Jonathan and Nancy talking.

"What's going on?" I asked after seeing Jonathan's distraught look. "She wants me to go to this Halloween Party tomorrow," He explained and pointed towards Nancy, who just shrugged and began talking again.

"You see, you could actually end up having a really good time. You don't even have to drink or anything. Lucy could come too, maybe it could be some sort of Double Date?" - "No," Jonathan and me said in unison, and I couldn't help but notice a certain relief in Nancy's expression.

"My cousin's gonna come back from college today for a little break, I'm afraid my evenings are already booked," I quickly explained, switching History with the English book. Actually I was quite positive my cousin would already know about the party and plan on going there, so I would have to come pick him up in the middle of the night, but they didn't need to know that just yet. I didn't like parties at all, especially if the main purpose was to get completely wasted. Really, not my image of a nice evening.

"Look, what are you gonna do with Will anyway? You'll be home by 8 and then?"

I quickly waved, giving Jonathan an apologetic smile before retreating to the English classroom, almost being run over by Steve in the process. He caught a glimpse of his girlfriend talking to Jon and groaned, before coming back into the almost empty room a few minutes later.

"Good morning to you too Stevie," I smiled after having sat down and he rolled his eyes. "I told you not to call me that." - "Yeah well I never said I'd listen." - "Shut up, Lockwood," He spat before ruffling my hair, and sitting down next to me.

"Hey you definitely do need to relax a little. The party tomorrow sounds good, doesn't it?" - "Says the one who doesn't even go to parties." Steve stuck out his tongue, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Real grown up, Harrington."


	2. Cameron

The rest of the day went by rather quickly, I had just finished off writing an essay in my last free period and picked up my bag from the locker. Jonathan walked up to me and grinned sheepishly, readjusting the strap of his backpack over his shoulder.

"I suppose Cameron is going to pick you up from school then?" I shrugged. "Depends on whether he has arrived yet or not. It's a 20 hour drive after all. Anyway did you decide yet?" He looked at me with a confused expression. "You know, the party?"

Rolling his eyes he shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe I'll go, maybe not." - "Alrighty, just be sure you decide based on what you want, and not what she wants. Don't force yourself to do something you don't want to do." - "Yes mom."

He pushed the front doors open and I spotted a motorbike across the parking lot.  
"Okay so it seems he is already here," I stated, Jonathan squinted and the next moment his eyes were as big as plates. "How can he even afford a damn Harley Davidson? I thought he's in college?!" - "His birthday was a few weeks ago. His parents are lawyers, remember? ... I'll see you tomorrow then," I mumbled before stepping into the bright sunlight, which didn't bring any warmth.

"Well hello there," My cousin grinned at me and patted the seat behind him, I shook my head, smiling, and sat down, snaking my arms around his waist. With a bit of dramatical exaggeration he started the engine and soon we were practically flying over the empty roads towards our house. I had moved in with him a bit more than two years ago due to personal reasons, but after he got accepted into college in Chicago I had the house all to myself most of the time.

Halfway there it started raining which caused him to drive even faster, I clung onto him like my life depended on it, and frankly it did.

∞

When we finally arrived at home we got off the bike and he quickly brought it to the small shed at the back that we primarily used as a garage.

"Nononono, get over here, I need to show you something," Cameron said just as I headed toward the front door. Raising an eyebrow I stepped back , hesitating, then walked over to him and crossed my arms.

"You know, that was really irresponsible of you," I laughed as he brushed some invisible dust from his arm. "What that I picked you up from school? That was hella responsible of me, I have no idea what you're talking about." - "Well I wasn't wearing a helmet and neither were you. Plus you were far over the speed limit." With a smug grin he patted my back, then pulled me into a bear hug, slightly picking me up before setting me back down again.

"I brought you something," He continued after he let go of me, the grin only intensifying. "Or rather I've got a belated birthday present for you. Now I know it's been two months already and I know you told me not to get you anything but after all that's my decision, isn't it?"

I remained quiet, knowing I couldn't stop him anymore anyway.

"Close your eyes," My cousin demanded, and his eyes sparkled out of excitement, so I just had to oblige and not ruin this for him. He then placed his hands on my shoulders, guiding me, and soon enough the sound of the rustling leaves beneath my feet was replaced by shoes of concrete. Suddenly we stopped and he told me to open my eyes again; my jaw dropped to the floor.

"Are you shitting me right now?" - "Language," He warned and I stuck my tongue out, still with eyes as big as the moon.

"The Impala? The freaking Impala?!" Cam nodded. "But-" He interrupted me before I could even ask. "You did see I've got my Harley now, right? You were on there just a few minutes ago, remember? Also, you've always liked that car and I'm more of a motorbike person anyways. So ... happy extremely belated birthday...?"

I jumped at my cousin in excitement, hugging him and luckily he caught me before I could fall face first to the ground. Now I had an own car, an extremely cool one not to mention, and I didn't depend on others anymore to get anywhere. That was just perfect.

∞

It was getting cold so we decided to go back inside, where I made us some coffee and warmed up some leftover pizza from last night. Cameron sat at the kitchen table, absentmindedly flipping through the newspaper, while I was leaning against the fridge.

"Okay but ... what's the catch?"

He looked at me, puzzled. "About the car." - "Nothing, really," He insisted. "Well I might have to ask my dear cousin who I love a lot to maybe pick me up after the party tomorrow?" I shrugged. "I can live with that. As long as you don't throw up in there." - "Don't worry." He raised his arms in defense and I smiled, hoping he'd live up to that promise.

I wasn't even surprised he already knew about the party, it was no secret that Tina had been wanting to get in his pants for the past two years, unsuccessfully, as far as I knew.

"Is Tina still the same?" He asked as though he'd read my mind, I nodded slowly. "Same old." - "Too bad. She's cute but unbelievably dumb. Not to mention too young." The last point was added by him after I raised an eyebrow at the part about her being cute.

The pizza was done finally and I sat down at the table as well, both of us eating in silence for a bit.

"How's everything going anyway? Anything interesting going on? Anyone new at school?" He asked and took a sip of his coffee. I chewed down the last bits of the slice of pizza and drank some coffee as well.  
"Not really no, same old shithole. I mean there's a new guy but he's an absolute douche as far as I know." - "Oh? Tell me more," He took another bite and looked at me intently. 

"From California, blue Camaro, you might have seen that car. Knows ninety percent of the girls are just waiting to get in his pants, practically bathes in it, and has a really cocky smile. Gross." - "Denim on denim?" I nodded and leaned back in my chair, Cameron emptied the mug with one swig and stretched his arms into the air.

"So really nothing interesting, huh?" Shaking my head I pulled my legs up to the chair. "But maybe that's good. Or maybe it's just the calm before the storm, I mean who knows." - "You're as pessimistic as ever, Luce."

"Told you, same old."


	3. It's Nothing

"Can you please shut your mouth for one second? I just need to finish this call and I'm all yours," I hissed at my cousin, pressing my hand onto the phone so that the other person wouldn't hear. Cam finally stopped his attempts at talking to me, or rather trying to get me to come to the party with him, and I put the phone back to my ear.

"Yes … Yes I am very well aware of that. I'll be careful, sure." - "Good. If I hear anything suspicious I'll let you know. For now I have to take care of some pumpkin business it seems. But I'll keep an eye out." - "Thanks Jim. Have a nice day."

I hung up and Cameron immediately proceeded talking about how convenient it would be to have me at the party. "I mean, for one you could make sure I don't drink way too much. Then I won't have to call you to pick me up, you'll just be there already. You also like dressing up, so that would be perfect, wouldn't it?"

With a sigh I picked up my bag and car keys, slipped into my boots and smiled at him.  
"I've got to go now. School, remember? See you later, love you." - "Okay but you should really think about it."

Laughing I left the house and before the door could fall shut I heard him yell a quick "Love you too!".

∞

As I pulled out of the driveway and into the street I took a moment to realise how I had just thought things were going great for once, and then Hopper calls and tells me somebody said they had seen my father around here.

Him, out of all people. The reason I was here. The reason I ran away from home. The reason I was this miserable, pretending to be okay.

"Now's not the time to get upset. Get your shit together Lucy, that's not who you are anymore. You've left that person in Seattle."

I kept repeating that mini pep talk to myself the entire way to school, until I suddenly pulled into the parking lot and noticed people staring.

Right. The car.

With one last look into the rear-view mirror I made sure my facial expression looked neutral enough, then I got out of the Impala, locked it and walked over to the building.

"Okay when did you get a car? And such a nice one on top of that," Steve greeted me, joining me halfway up the stairs. "Got it from Cameron, he got a Harley and gave me his old car as belated birthday present." - "How come I don't get to give my best friend a birthday present, and that dude can give you a goddamn car?!"  
We walked to class and he kept throwing his arms around, making me shake my head continuously.

"What?" He asked as we sat down, only a few other people in the room so far. "It's nothing," I quickly replied and opened my binder, starting to draw again.

"Come on Luce, don't do this." - "I'm not doing anything." - "You're avoiding. What's wrong?"

A bunch of people entered the room, mainly girls surrounding the new kid and Tommy H. trying to keep up. I choked back a laugh.

"Steve?" - "Yeah?" - "I'll tell you later."  
He nodded, a worried look plastered all over his face which made me look back down on my drawing. He had so much trouble with Nancy right now, maybe I shouldn't unnecessarily bother him with my own problems. I should figure something out myself, and keep everyone else out of this, as always.

∞

"Hey, nerd!" Tommy threw another paper ball at my head and I clenched my fist around my pencil, as I turned around just to smack him on the head with my maths book. Over the years I had tried to get by just with ignoring people, but Tommy was a very special kind of dipshit. "Ouch?" - "Shut it," I snapped and turned around, but I felt an enraged gaze pierce through my back for the rest of class.

As soon as the bell rang I jumped up and left, before anyone else could. Hurrying over to the English classroom I disappeared at the seemingly perfect timing, as nobody appeared to be following me.

Taking a few deep breaths I sat down at the back and stared at the empty spots around, contemplating whether I should make a '$1 per note' sign, until the teacher came in and immediately started the lesson.

Already after a few minutes I had to pass a note over to Billy; if it continued like this I'd be a professional note-passer in no time. No need for artwork or anything, I could make a living just from- no. I interrupted my own thoughts and decided to take a nap right when I got back home.

I picked up the note once it was set down on my desk, handed it over to the side and erased the hands for the fifth time.

"So are you coming to the party today?" An unfamiliar voice suddenly asked and I figured that Billy must've still been looking at me. "Nope," I replied, reattaching the fingers to the sketch.

"You're not even gonna look at me although we're talking?" He continued and I rolled my eyes, let out a sigh and looked up at him. It was silent for a moment.

"Happy now?" - "Very." The cocky smile returned to his face, making me cringe on the inside.

"Lucy Lockwood, right?" - "The one and only," I scoffed, finally somewhat content with the way the hands were turning out.

"Having a bad day?" His questions were irritating me; not as in I couldn't understand what he wanted but rather the fact that he was talking to me at all. Maybe I had been too quick to judge, at least he was trying to be friendly. If only there wasn't that goddamn smirk - it really started to annoy me.

"I guess." He let out a chuckle at my response. "Just another reason to come to the party, you see." - "Just another reason to stay at home honestly. The point in avoiding further trouble is to not do anything that could provoke complications of any sort." I looked back up at him, faking a smile. "At least that's my way." - "Your way sounds pretty boring." - "Well it's always worked out for me, so," I explained, vaguely gesturing into the air before setting down my pencil again. Billy turned around without another word, I quickly noted down another fact the teacher repeated again and again, and like this the lesson, and luckily the entire day, soon came to an end.


	4. Happy Halloween

After he had already failed at convincing me to come to the party, Cameron seemed rather discouraged about everything. He didn't even want to dress up anymore, but I guessed he was trying to lure me in through pouting and puppy-eyes, and to be honest he was pretty damn good at those.

"Cameron I told you I have to finish some artwork to send out next week. The earlier I get through with this the better." - "And what exactly are you doing that for this time?" He asked while changing his shirt. "For a children's book that is going to be released in a few weeks," I explained, sitting down on the couch.

"Didn't you do some Horror stuff the last time I was here?" - "Cam, that was three months ago." - "…Right."

He dropped down next to me and put an arm around me, tugging at my messy bun. "Okay then I guess I won't stop you from making your own money." - "Thanks." - "Mhm," My cousin hummed, closing his eyes for a minute before jumping onto his feet within a split second.

"Alright then I'll call you when it gets critical," He said excitedly and headed towards the door. "You know you are actually supposed to be the responsible one here?" - "Not today, Love."

With a grin he wished me a good night, I told him not to overdo it and he just left, laughing.

I stayed on the couch for five more minutes before making myself another cup of coffee, just to be able to stay awake until god knows when. At the moment, sleeping seemed like the least clever thing to do anyway.

∞

The phone rang at 11:45 while I was currently finishing up on the colored parts, so when I tried to pick up the phone it slipped from my hands at least three times.

"Hey um Tina here." She sounded pissed. "Cameron said I should call his girlfriend to pick him up? So?"

Girlfriend? Tina had probably tried making a move on him and he just blurted out something to save himself, so it couldn't be that bad. Or he actually forgot that he didn't have a girlfriend and just made one up, or mixed something up in general. 

Either way, it definitely was time to go pick him up.

"I'll be right over," I said, quickly hanging up again. I washed my hands, took a last swig of my coffee, threw on my leather jacket and left the house.

To keep myself awake I blasted some Mötley Crüe on the way to Tina's, singing along at times, until I pulled up into the right road and immediately decided to park on the side opposite the house.

The moment I turned off the engine and my own music was cut off, it immediately continued on once I opened the door. There were people dancing, making out and doing other equally awkward stuff scattered all over the place and I quickly lit myself a cigarette, taking a deep drag before heading towards the house.

"You know you wanted to stop. Get your shit together already," I silently scolded myself, puffing out some smoke while crossing the street. Some guy in a toga threw up in the driveway and I immediately turned to the other side, until I noticed Jonathan getting out of his car. "Did Nance really convince you to come?" I yelled over the music and he shrugged, heading into the house without a reply.

"Okay what the fuck," I mumbled to myself, throwing my cigarette to the ground before following Jonathan inside, immediately regretting that decision. There were way too many way too drunk people all at once.

Exactly why I hated parties.

Well, no escaping it now. Jonathan had disappeared as well so I just decided to go and look for my cousin.

Pushing past sweaty teenagers with smudged makeup and halfway torn costumes I made my way through the living room, carefully trying not to miss Cameron in the crowd.

"Well hello there!" Someone yelled behind me and I turned around, only to find Billy standing in front of me with his arms crossed. "I thought you wanted to avoid trouble?" - "I'm trying."  
He laughed, when suddenly Tommy appeared next to him, eyeing me sceptically.

"You!" He screamed with anger in his eyes, flailing his arms into my direction but missing me by a few inches. I'd almost forgotten about the maths book incident earlier this day.

"Look, Tommy, my dude, as much as I'd love to have a chat with you right now I have to go." I patted his shoulder while he held onto the wall to avoid falling over. "So how's life?" I asked while still scanning the room. "Looks like Hawkins has a new keg king, and Steve Harrington has been topped once and for all," Billy explained proudly and I rolled my eyes.

"Congratulations I guess. Major achievement." - "Why so mean?" - "I'm not being mean, I congratulated you."  
Now it was his turn to roll his eyes, the smug grin appearing once again, which was my sign to leave.

"Luce!" Someone said and I finally spotted Cameron, only a few feet away from me. I gave Billy a quick nod just to be polite, then headed towards my cousin who immediately dropped himself into my arms. Somehow I managed to rearrange his arms to a more comfortable grip around my shoulders, and began manoeuvring him to the front door, and from there to the car.

"How's the stomach?" I asked before opening the door. "Good, don'orry," He assured me and I raised an eyebrow, but made sure to get him into the car and even buckled his seatbelt for him.

One last look to the party I saw Jonathan's car was gone as well and the guy in the toga was laying on the lawn. Seemed like I didn't really miss out on anything.

∞

"There, you lie down and relax and I'll get you everything." I covered Cameron with his blanket and he looked at me with a sheepish smile.

With a sigh I got some Advil from the bathroom, a glass of water, and I dug out the huge Teddy Bear from Cams closet. Happily pressing the bear to his chest my cousin thanked me, already half asleep.

"Well then, good night." - "Nighh," He muttered, giving the bear a goodnight kiss, and I closed the door before he could profess his undying love to the stuffed toy.


	5. All-Nighter

A deafening scream erupted from the girl on TV and i jumped, immediately reaching for the remote to turn down the volume. I hoped Cameron wouldn't wake up, while leaning back again, clutching the blanket I had wrapped around me even tighter.

I didn't know why watching horror movies had been my first idea when thinking about what I could do to distract myself, when it certainly wasn't the best one. However it kept me awake and for now that was good enough.

Sleeping meant dreaming and dreaming meant having nightmares again and I tried avoiding those as long as it was healthwise acceptable.  
Besides almost everyone would be hungover at school anyway, so I wouldn't stand out too much, which was more than convenient.

Glancing over at the clock I realised it was almost 5am aka I could go and have a shower soon, and get ready for school, maybe go for a run beforehand.

I finished the movie, turned off the TV and changed into some running attire, going for a small 15-minute morning jog. In hindsight that hadn't been the smartest thing to do, but lately I'd had a lot of those not so smart ideas anyway so one more wouldn't kill me.

∞

The clouds were of a dark grey and seemed to hang suffocatingly close above my head; I assumed it would rain later on and told myself to pack a raincoat just in case.

When I got back to the house I took a long shower, got dressed in some simple skinny jeans and a bandshirt, went back downstairs and prepared breakfast.  
"When in motion an object will remain in motion," I mumbled to myself while warming up the pancakes.

"Say that again?" Cameron walked in and gave me a kiss on the cheek before slumping down at the table. "Ah nothing. How did you sleep?" - "Extraordinarily well. Did you drug me again?" I snorted. "Of course you did. I should scold you for that, you know, just to make sure I'm being responsible enough," He exclaimed while stretching, I heard a few bones crack slightly and felt a little shiver run down my spine.

"Oh so all the sudden you're a responsible adult?" - "I mean technically … if you still want to go the legal ways we could officially get you away from your parents. And I could be your legal guardian if they consider me good enough. I'm sure my mom would take care of that." I turned around, slowly scanning his now concerned face. "Did you talk to Hopper?" Now he nodded. "He called earlier while you were showering." Great.

"You should've told me. You know I have to get back to Uni by Saturday, I could cancel my weekend classes if you want." - "No it's okay Cam," I cut him off. "Really. I'll cope. We'll find a way to deal with this, don't let me get in the way of your success." - "He's dangerous, Luce!" He snapped and I jumped. "I know that! I'll … figure something out."

Cameron got up, placing his hands on my shoulders he looked me in the eyes. "At least tell one of your friends, will you?" I nodded, knowing that was exactly what I wasn't going to do. I didn't want to burden anyone else with this as long as I could figure something out myself.

"Good."

He sat back down, I placed the pancakes on the table, getting two cans of soda out of the fridge. We ate quietly until he crushed the empty can with his hand.  
"Damn it" He scoffed, leaning back in his chair. "I'll head back later today and I'll go see mom and dad."

I choked on the last bits of the pancake, chugging down some soda. "What?" Cam tugged at his own hair.

"I'll explain the situation to them and I'll convince them to see what they can do for you. If he's here that means he possibly already went to look for you in other places with other family members. Trust me, we'll get this over with once and for all. I know you want things to remain as they are because that's just the simple version, not having to go through all this official business. But I can see how much this is killing you. Heck I'm not majoring in psychology for nothing, I can see what this is doing to you. And it's been like that for longer than just a few days. Let me help you. For once," He begged, tears glistening in his eyes. I sighed. "I've got to go to school now," I muttered, getting up and picking up my bag from the floor.

"Love You." - "…Love you too."

∞

I sat in the car for a while, choking back the tears that had been welling behind my eyelids for such an awfully long time. Now wasn't a time to break.

Lighting a cigarette I exited the car, puffed out some smoke and walked over to Steve.  
"Everything alright with you?" I asked. He shrugged. "Hey didn't you want to quit smoking?" Now I shrugged. "It's complicated." - "Tell me about it."  
Standing around silently we watched people arrive and make their way into the school building, while not moving an inch  
ourselves.

"How's about we skip fourth and get some lunch and just talk?" Steve suggested after a while, I dropped my cigarette and stepped on it. "Sounds good."

We walked to our lockers together, then split up to each head to our according classes.

∞

History, first thing in the morning.  
"Perfect," I muttered, sitting down behind Billy, who turned around to look at me.

"Well you look beat," He stated, raising his eyebrows. As a response I let out a yawn, almost knocking my book off the table.

"Rough night?" - "Rough life," I hummed before really thinking about it. With a rather distressed laugh I opened my binder and, once the teacher entered, started scribbling sleeping pills and mugs filled with coffee that looked like blood and other stuff that seemed appropriate at the moment.

It started raining halfway through Calculus which meant we wouldn't be doing track in P.E today, fortunately. If luck was on my side for once we'd just watch the guys play basketball, so I'd get to read or maybe even take a nap. 

At this point I was tired enough to not even care about nightmares anymore.


	6. He's Back

"Hey Lockwood. I reckon we still have some stuff to sort out," Tommy exclaimed climbing up to me on the bleachers.

"Do we? Because you already tried to punch me in the face last night and missed, so that is a fail which still counts as an attempt. So we're even." - "You really think you're funny, do ya? Wait until I wipe that smile off your face."

I snorted. "Look, I know you won't like this but you're my smallest problem right now so either slap me right here and now or get lost," I sneered, waving him off, when the coach called out to him 'he should get his ass back down to the others'.

I didn't pay much attention to the game but I did notice there seemed to be a certain rivalry evolving between Steve and Billy. As long as they didn't resort to beating each other up that wasn't my problem though, but if that Hargrove guy ever laid a hand on my best friend, I would have to have a few words with him.

"Steve?" Nancy had walked in and called out to her boyfriend, but he didn't react.   
"Steve!"

A break was announced and Steve left, while everyone else quickly stretched, then someone else was called in and the game continued. Looking back at the blank page in my lap I closed the sketchbook, frustrated I couldn't come up with anything to draw. 

Thus, for the rest of the lesson, I watched the guys play basketball, a bit envious since us girls weren't allowed to join in on the game. Apparently it was too dangerous for our fragile bodies to play such a brutal game with such grown men.

Bullshit.

Steve came back, looking obviously distressed, joining the game immediately but he seemed a little less coordinated. As though he was trying really hard to keep it together.

I decided to lay down for a bit, breathe a little and calm myself down so that I could properly be there for him later.

∞

"Lucy?" Someone shook me and I jolted awake, almost crashing my forehead onto the other persons nose. "Good I thought I'd lost you there for a second," Steve huffed, already dressed in his regular clothing.

I sat up, trying to adjust to the whole situation. I must've fallen asleep on the bleachers, the gym was now empty except for Steve and myself, and the winning team (Team Skin apparently) currently leaving the locker rooms.

Suddenly I saw a way too familiar face pass by the door to the hallway, which made me jump up immediately just so I could stumble and almost fall down the bleachers. Luckily Steve caught me, gave me a concerned look but I tried brushing it off by smiling. "Let's go?" - "Uh … sure."

I made sure we left through the other door, the one where I did not see the face that haunted me through night after night, and soon enough we were sitting in my car.

The sound of the heavy rain against the roof and windows was so calming that I didn't even turn on the radio. Neither of us talked until we arrived at the diner, hurrying inside to avoid getting drenched in water.

We were greeted by a middle aged waitress; she gave us the menu and we quickly decided to each have a coffee and share a pizza.

"So … what happened at the party?" I asked cautiously, studying every possible twitch in his face. He just shrugged, tugging at the old leather seat he was on.

"I guess Nancy sort of broke up with me," He then mumbled, staring at the mustard.

"Sort of?" - "Well she said our whole relationship was bullshit so I suppose that's what she meant. And now I know she was totally wasted but … I don't know. Sometimes that condition brings out the naked truth, as harsh as it may be. She insists she didn't mean it but when I asked her to tell me she loved me earlier … she couldn't even say it."

I took a sip of my coffee, attentively studying the crease that had formed on his forehead.

"I feel like there's something going on with Jonathan. More than what I thought about last year. It's different this time. I just don't know what to do, Luce," He concluded, looking at me.

"I'm really the worst person to talk to when it comes to relationships and all that, I'm sorry." - "Don't be, really. I just need to get all of this off my mind or at least talk about it. And you don't interrupt me or give me half assed advice that won't work, you just listen."

With a lost smile I took his hand, for one to prevent him from completely destroying the leather seat, but also to get a hold of something. I wasn't too sure what to say, since I had noticed the feelings Jonathan had for Nancy already a while ago. There was no use lying to him, was there?

"You know something, don't you?" He asked, whereas it was more of a statement than a question. I shrugged, taking another sip of my coffee.

"I mean it's not really news Jonathan is into her, now is it?" - "Yeah … ugh damn it," He exclaimed, smacking his forehead with his own hand. "Thanks for being honest, really." - "You can still try winning her over? Flowers? Chocolate? She's weak for stuff like that." - "I can try … I guess. Yeah I'll try."

We got our pizza and ate silently for a while, until half of it had disappeared into our stomachs.

"Now it's your turn," Steve suddenly demanded, leaning back in his seat. The jukebox was blaring some Elvis songs, one of the truckers at the breakfast bar was tapping his fingers loudly and I felt a slight headache form at the overload. 

Contemplating on whether I should tell him the truth or not I swallowed the last bits of pizza.

"It's nothing, really. I just haven't been sleeping too well." - "Don't lie to me," He snapped, almost knocking over his coffee mug. "Tell me the reason you haven't been sleeping well. Tell me what's going on with you. I know something's wrong and I want to help you."

Now it was my turn to awkwardly tug at the leather seat. "You've already got so much stuff going on yourself, I don't want to unnecessarily burden you with my crap as well." - "Oh come on! If anything I owe you one. You were the person that got me out of this god awful situation last year, after I broke off with Tommy and Carol, finally realising how much of an asshole I'd been. You're my best friend, Luce."

He grabbed my other hand, looking me dead in the eyes yet again.

"So ... Tell me what's wrong." I let out a long sigh, looking down onto my plate.

"My dad's here."


	7. You Will Not Disobey Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: just a little heads up, this chapter contains strong language (a bit) and violence (a bit) so be sure you're comfortable ♡

After we finished our pizza we decided to go back to school since each of us had an important test in fifth period, and sixth would just be English class which was easily comparable to a free. 

Fortunately fifth passed by quickly and without any further incidents, and when Steve sat down next to me for sixth he turned to me. 

"If anything happens, tell me, okay?" I nodded. 

Other people started pouring into the room and soon every seat was filled, I leaned back in my chair but instead of opening my binder to draw again I attached my gaze to the little window in the door which showed the hallway. 

"You waiting for someone?" Billy asked and I jumped, slouching back down again, frowning. "No," I answered, trying to calm down. Steve eyed me from the side, a worried look plastered all over his face, while he tore a piece of paper into tiny bits.

"It's nothing. I'm just tired," I quickly added, continuously switching between staring at the board and staring at the door. I must look like I'm off my meds or something, I thought to myself, almost smiling when someone passed the door. It felt as though someone had pulled away the floor from underneath my feet. Like I was falling into a deep dark abyss with no sign of stopping or escaping. It felt as though my stomach dropped to the ground. 

An adult. No teacher. Rather chubby, mid-fourties, greyish brown hair, tall.

Enough. 

My hand shot up into the air immediately. 

"Mr Brown could I please go see the nurse? I'm not feeling well." Our teacher turned around, scanning me sceptically. "You do look really pale Ms Lockwood. Someone accompany her please, who's done already? Mr Hargrove?" 

I stopped dead in my tracks, already halfway out if my seat. Steve stared at me with eyes the size of the moon, I just shook my head with a frown. 

"Just to make sure you don't pass out. Now get going you two," Mr Brown demanded, I picked up my stuff and left the room, followed by Billy. 

"Did you see a ghost or what's wrong with you?" He asked as soon as the door had shut behind us. I didn't answer, quietly headed towards the nurses office but stopped in front of the registration table. Aside from Hopper, the Secretary was the only person who knew about the reason I was here, just in case something went wrong. 

"Can you check me out for the day? I just saw him here, in the building," I hissed, hoping Billy wouldn't hear anything. The Secretary just nodded quietly, writing something down, as I turned around to leave the building. 

"Lockwood, what's going on?" - "I'm not feeling good. So I'm going home." - "You looked fine just a minute ago, but your face suddenly went from pale to pale green like you'd seen something," He insisted and I stopped walking, turned back around to look at him. 

"Look. Let's say you stay out here for another five minutes, then you go back to class and say I have a high fever and was sent home." - "Okay but what exactly-"   
I slapped my hand over his mouth, pulling him into an open closet, shutting the door behind us. 

"You see ... as much as I'm enjoying this situation, would you mind filling me in on the details?" He asked, his voice slightly muffled due to my hand. 

"Shut it, Hagrove," I snarled, slowly removing my hand from his face. I could see the shadow of someone walking past the door and held my breath, feeling even more light-headed than before. 

Even after the shadow had disappeared I stayed as quiet as possible, the smell of cleaning detergent making me dizzy, while Billy let out an exaggerated sigh. 

"You can come out now," The Secretary suddenly said on the other side of the door and I finally allowed myself to breathe properly again. The light on the hallway was almost blindingly bright, I squinted out of the now empty door frame and held onto the wall for support. My knees started to feel weak, my hands started to sweat. 

Not a panic attack. 

Not now. 

Please. 

"What kind of trouble are you in?" Billy asked, walking in front of me, looking me in the eyes. "What did you do? Steal something? Or worse? I heard your aunt is a lawyer I'm sure she'll get you out of there," He cackled, but I barely listened. 

"She indeed is a great lawyer." 

My stomach dropped even farther and my vision went blurry when I heard that voice. That voice that was just way too familiar, even after years of not hearing it out loud anymore. 

"Aren't you going to look at me? Ah, you know what. We'll save that for later, yeah?"   
I felt a hand on my shoulder, weighing heavy, too close to my neck and it felt like my whole left arm was going numb. 

"I'll be waiting for you at home then," He finished, the hand disappeared as fast as it had shown up, and I heard footsteps behind me. 

 

Everything went cold and in a matter of seconds I pulled out the knife from the inside of my jacket, dropping everything else to the floor, slamming my father face first into the lockers. I held one of his arms behind his back, pressing the knife up to his face. 

"You are not going to wait anywhere. You are going to go home. And by that I mean you are going to go back to Seattle. You are going to go back to Seattle and never come back here ever again. We will go through with the lawsuit and you will never see me again. Do you understand?" 

He let out a whizzing laugh. "You wouldn't have the guts to hurt me." 

"Oh really? I wouldn't be too sure about that," I hissed, pressing the knife against his cheek, just so it barely scratched the surface, making a small trickle of blood run down to his collar. 

"NO!" He boomed, fled around in rage before I could react at all and crushed my head into the lockers, making me fall to the ground. The next thing I knew was him yelling "YOU WILL NOT DISOBEY ME!" before running off and leaving the building before I could show any further reaction. 

"Okay what the fuck," Billy exclaimed, helping me onto my feet. Without a word I picked up my bag. "So nothing, huh?" - "It's complicated," I said, my voice merely a whisper. "You should get back to class." 

"And what are you gonna do? You could easily have a concussion." Furrowing his brows he looked at the now slightly dented locker. "I'll be heading home still." - "Not now you won't," Billy decided, grabbing my hand. "You should actually go see a doctor." Shaking my head I looked up at him. "I'll go home. I'll cope," I said, squirming free of his grip, and left the building without looking back. 

Cameron would be at home, which meant even if that asshole dared showing up he wouldn't be greeted nicely. I just hoped he didn't hurt my cousin. 

We'd deal with this, somehow. 

Things would be fine eventually. 

Or so I hoped.


	8. One Step Closer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: warnings for this chapter- Graphic Depiction of Violence + Abuse

The car ride home seemed to last hours, although I was very well aware of the fact that it was only a matter of twenty minutes to get back to the house.

I slid in a random tape, blasting the 'Kill Em All' album at the highest volume bearable. It didn't help my headache at all, but when everything was silent all I heard was white noise. Too much at once, without the possibility of hearing anything in particular, everything so far away. Impossible to decipher.

Even when I had arrived, I stayed inside of the car for the rest of the tape, singing along, drumming on the steering wheel. Afraid. Afraid that the moment I left the cosy seat of my Impala, everything would come crashing down around me. I wanted to stay in this illusion a little longer. 

∞

After the tape had ended I took a few deep breaths, before getting out of the car and walking over to the house.

"Cam?" I asked quietly as soon as I stood in the hallway. Things seemed normal. But where would my cousin be around this time? Thinking about it, his bike hadn't been in the garage either. Maybe he was grocery shopping or something like that.  
I got out of my shoes, threw my bag and jacket next to the coat-rack and headed towards the living room, to check for a note or anything he might have left. There was nothing on the coffee table, neither on top of the TV which was where he usually put them. 

  Weird.

"Ah finally you're here. I've been waiting for quite a while now, you see," My father sneered from behind me, I spun around to look at him, reached for the knife but was then reminded of the fact that it was in my jacket.

  In the hallway. Great.

"Cute little note my nephew left for you. 'I'll be heading back to my parents today, and I'll get someone to accept the case. We'll go through with this and you'll never have to see that asshole again'. A bit harsh isn't it? Calling me an asshole although he barely knows me?" He said in a calm, overly friendly tone which made me even more uncomfortable. Crumbling the note and throwing it over his shoulder he looked at me, smiling. I felt dizzy again.

  "He even was gracious enough to inform me about the gun you hid underneath one of the pillows on the couch, really well behaved that boy. We don't want you to accidentally hurt me, do we?" His smile grew bigger.

  "Get out," I scoffed, desperately trying to remember any sort of self defence Hopper had taught me after I came here. Weapons mostly. Some basic moves to ward someone off. 'And if nothing helps just knee him in the balls. That usually works and at least gives you some time.' Nothing I hadn't known before if I was honest.

  "Yeah you know … I don't think I will. I really thought you were smarter than to run away from me, trying to hide. But I guess you take after your mother when it comes to intelligence." My father took a step towards me, I forced myself to stay where I was, to not show any sign of weakness.

  "At least she never sunk deep enough to abuse her own child," I hissed. He took another step, I stayed in place.

"What did you say?!" - "I said that at least she never sunk as deep as you. You're miserable."

  Another step.

"So are you! Look at you, trying to pretend you're not scared of me. You've always been. That's why you ran away in the first place. And now? I've caught up on you, and you will come back home with me."

  Another step.

"Never." Clenching my fists at my sides I looked him in the eyes. "I will not let you ruin the rest of my life. You are not my father."

  No further step.

For a moment he seemed frozen, staying right where he was, staring at me with wide eyes, only to suddenly plunge forward, slapping me across the face.

  "You will do as I say!"

I felt my eyes water as I aggressively shook my head, stretching out my leg before pushing him backwards, which made him fall over smashing right into the coffee table. The sound of shattering glass resonated through my head, followed by a muffled scream from my father. I was just about to run around to my jacket in the hallway, when he grabbed my ankle, stopping me.

  Instead of pulling me down to the floor however, He quickly got up, ignoring the bits and pieces of glass he had all over his torso, and I attempted pushing him back to the floor when his fist collided with my face two, then three, and then four times in a row, making me fall onto the couch behind me.

  I tasted blood in my mouth, I could feel the blood running out of my nose, I could feel the blood being pumped through my veins at an alarmingly high rate.

"Now I see how it is," He said quietly, reaching behind his back only to reveal a gun. I struggled to get back up, holding onto the couch for support, when he held up the gun into my direction. My breath hitched, everything was awfully blurry, and I barely heard anything due to my heart pounding in my head so loudly. "So I give you the choice. Either you come back home with me, or it all ends right here and now."

  Unable to say anything I just stared at the schemes of him that I could make out in front of me, seemingly all around me. It was almost completely silent when suddenly something caught his attention and he aimed somewhere else. Things went way too fast for my brain to process properly.

The whole room was spinning.

I heard gunshots and something that sounded an awful lot like a dog. My father stumbled backwards, trying to run. One of the bookshelves toppled over and knocked me back to the floor.

   Then, everything went black.


	9. Let Me Help You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw!blood mention

I heard heavy breathing from somewhere above me, the bright light of the lamp at the ceiling threatened to blind me once I had opened my eyes.  
  I tasted blood in my mouth, and through my nose I took in the metallic scent of the same liquid as well.

When I made a second attempt at opening my eyes, the first thing I saw was a snout. A dogs snout to be exact.

  As soon as the seemingly huge Alaskan Malamute noticed I was awake, he began wagging his tail and jumped up to his feet. I was just about to get up as well, when I noticed the bookshelf which my legs were buried under, weighing heavily. Too heavy in fact, when I tried to push it aside it barely moved at all.

I managed to hold myself up on my elbows, studying my surroundings more closely, noticing a note on the dogs collar.  
  Careful not to scare him away I removed it, reading.

'I didn't feel good leaving you all by yourself so I went and got the dog to protect you, just in case. You surely remember him, you used to walk him and other police dogs as a part time job just after you came here. Hopper said if anything bad happened I should just call and he'd give him to us.  
  I hope you're alright. I'll be in touch.  
  Love, Cam.'

"Loki?" I said, my voice hoarse. In response, the dog began wagging his tail even more, pacing around me for a while before sitting back down by my side.

So he did have things planned out after all, didn't he. Cameron never really talked about what was going on, yet he had a Plan A, B and C. I shouldn't have underestimated a Psychology major anyways.

Laying back down on the floor I stared at the ceiling, trying to organise everything that was going on at the moment, without success.

  Suddenly Loki jumped onto his feet, running towards the hallway where he disappeared. I quickly picked uo the gun that my father must've had dropped when he ran away. Shortly after I heard a car pulling up into the driveway, hoping for anyone except my father.  
  I heard the dog barking loudly, the floorboards in the hallway creaked slightly when someone walked over them. Just as fast as he had disappeared, Loki came running back to me, wagging his tail from side to side. Man had I forgotten how much of a happy dog he was.

"Um … okay what the fuck," Someone said and when I looked up I almost yelped in surprise.   
I was expecting Steve.   
Maybe even Jonathan.  
Or maybe Hopper.   
  But I did certainly not expect Billy to show up.

"Hey ... um could you maybe help me out?" I asked, gesturing towards the bookshelf. He got closer, carefully lifting the shelf away before placing it back in its original spot by the wall. When I tried getting up on my feet he kneeled down beside me, gently placing his hand on my back to help me sit up properly.

"He didn't go back to Seattle?" - "He didn't."  
I looked up at him, his face seemed different from the way he always looked at school. Softened. Maybe even a bit worried.

  "Let me guess? I look terrible," I said, awkwardly looking down at my hands. "I wouldn't put it like that actually. I mean, under these circumstances I'd say you still look quite dashing," He smirked and I rolled my eyes. "Oh you mean with a massive nosebleed and dog drool all over my face? That's what you're into?" Now he let out a laugh, I joined in but soon realised that had been a mistake.

I began coughing, my stomach twitching immediately. 

  "Wait, let me help you get up," Billy mumbled, wrapping my arm around his shoulder, helping me get to the bathroom. I sat down on the edge of the bathtub, holding a towel up to my nose which had randomly decided to start bleeding again, as I watched Billy fill the sink with warm water.

"You've got shards of glass in your back, do you know that?" My eyes went huge and I shook my head slowly, careful not to make my dizziness worse than it already was.  
  "Would you mind me helping you get them out of there?" He asked, and again I shook my head, still holding the towel up to my face. I didn't know what it was but something made me trust him right now.

  Handing him another towel I turned around, so that my feet were now in the bathtub. He rummaged through one of the cabinets, probably searching for something to sterilize the wounds and band aids or something of that sort.

Meanwhile I pulled my shirt over my head, only now noticing how much my back must've been bleeding during however long I had been unconscious.

  "Alright this is gonna hurt a bit," Billy said and I shivered when his cold fingertips met my skin. Either the shards weren't in too deep, or I was still in shock and didn't really feel anything yet - however, aside from a small tweak every now and again it seemed to be alright. Or Billy was just extraordinarily good at patching someone up, but I couldn't think of any reason why that would be the case.

  "Okay that was the last one," He concluded, sticking the last band aid onto my back helping me get back into my shirt.

"You alright?" I shrugged. How alright could I be? I'd quite literally just been beaten up by my own father who had stalked me all the way to Hawkins. 

Mediocre I guess.

Without a word he guided me back to the living room, where I sat down on the couch, Loki had rolled himself up to a ball on the single-sofa next to the bookshelf.

"Can I get you anything?" Billy asked, inspecting my nose. "Some Painkillers maybe."  
  Seemingly happy with no further blood coming from my nose he got back up and headed for the kitchen. I closed my eyes for a bit, focusing on my own breathing. Focusing on what I could hear and smell.

After a few minutes I opened my eyes again, staring at the flowers in between the broken glass scattered all over the floor. Would make a good design. I could add that to my pile of 'dealing with my fucked up past' drawings which I had locked away in my closet.

Billy returned, two steaming mugs in his hands.  
  "No Painkillers, not with a concussion, which I am sure you now have," He said, answering the question I had just been about to ask. Eyeing the mug he had just given me I raised an eyebrow.

"You know how to make proper tea?" - "Hey, don't underestimate me like that. I'm almost offended," Billy chimed, his smile slowly fading away as he looked into my eyes.

"What's your story?"


	10. Worry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw!abuse mention

Staring down into the mug I studied my blurry reflection; I remained quiet for a while, feeling his gaze from the side.

"My parents," I began, clearing my throat while sitting down properly. "My parents were really successful doctors, surgeons to be exact. They earned a ton of money, they had a ton of stress, and then suddenly that child that no one was planning for or even wanted was born. Basically, that meant much more stress. So they did the one smart thing to do when you have a whole lot of money and sent me to some really fancy daycare. Things were normal I guess, I made friends and everything. When I started school however I was the most annoying spoiled brat you can possibly imagine. People absolutely hated me, and honestly i can totally understand.  
Middle school wasn't any better - I hung around the rich kids a lot and they didn't have the best influence on me, really. They were even worse than I was at the time, even though you wouldn't really think that's possible at all. But Middle school was just generally the beginning of all the things that were yet to come.  
My dad started drinking. A lot. And he just became so awfully angry and aggressive all the time. At first he only yelled a lot and occasionally broke some furniture.  
But when i started Freshman Year things got real bad. My mom started screwing all those other guys and my dad drank more and more, to the point where it was interfering with his work so much he was fired. That night he came home, yelled absolutely incomprehensible stuff and slapped me across the face a few times. That soon developed into something that happened several times a month, soon enough it was a weekly thing. And I went along with it. I endured it, hoping if I didn't object he would stop. But he didn't.  
I was homeschooled after the first time one of the teachers asked about some bruises on my wrists.  
It was easier that way. My mom didn't do anything about it either, she was probably happy it was me and not her he took his anger out on. I never went to the hospital since my parents both were of the opinion they'd be fine treating me at home. Just don't let anyone be suspicious about anything that was going on in our seemingly perfect family that couldn't afford anymore mishaps. And then in summer two years ago I just packed my things and left. I don't think they expected that. And it seems my dad has been looking for me for quite a while now. Either in order to bring me back, or end it, maybe make it look like I had been held captive and murdered so they could get some of the sympathy back they lost due to his drinking habits."

It was silent for a while, I didn't look up, thinking about whether I should apologise for talking too much.

"So frankly they only care about their own damn reputation and not about their child," He said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. I shrugged.

"It wasn't like they didn't care for me at all, in fact they always bought me everything if I just asked for it. But among all those things that they gave me, there was only one thing I ever needed, and never got."

"Love."

"Ding Ding Ding, we have a winner."

It remained silent for a little longer, so I got up and started picking up the shattered glass from the floor, not really caring whether the shards cut into my hands.

"My dad's the same," Billy suddenly said and I looked up at him. He had a blank expression on his face and his eyes seemed empty, like his mind was in a place far from here. "I don't know ever since my mom died he's been so aggressive." - "Does he hurt you?" I asked, placing the shards back on the floor before sitting back down next to him.

"Sometimes." His voice was slightly hoarse, as if he tried choking his own emotions down. "And the other times? Is it more of a ... mental thing?" He nodded, staring out of the window, not saying anything.

"So that's why you always act like such an asshole around other people. You want to be on top at school because somehow you need to compensate that at home you're being put down like this." - "Now that's a bit of a harsh way to put it." - "Am I wrong?" He frowned. "No."

I resumed picking up the glass, throwing it away along with the flowers and broken vase.

"Why are you here anyway?" I asked, rummaging through a drawer for the dog leash. I had decided to go for a little walk in the morning (with Loki of course) to go get some groceries. Maybe I would stop by at the Byers' house to see if they needed anything as well.

"I guess I was a little worried about you, after everything that happened at school. I dropped Max off at the Arcade and came over here to see whether you're fine." - "Don't worry about me, really. I'm used to it by now. Or at least I should be," I replied, trying to sound cheerful while I patted Lokis head, who seemed happy about the sudden attention.

"By the way ... I should probably go and pick up Max," Billy exclaimed after a while, getting up without having touched his tea even once.

I quickly grabbed a cigarette and lighter from my jacket and followed him to the door, lighting the cigarette on the way there. He turned around, raising an eyebrow, while Loki came running after us, panting.

"What?"

"You don't come across as someone who smokes." - "Well I don't come across as someone who has a gun hidden under their couch just in case the abusive father pays a visit either, now do I?" - "Fair enough," He scoffed, almost laughing.

"You're gonna be alright here?" I nodded, running a hand through my hair as he walked towards his car.

"Hey Billy!" He turned around again, the door already opened. "Thank you," I said, smiling.

"Anytime."


	11. Nightmare

I spent the rest of the day sitting outside at the back of the house, playing fetch with Loki, just to make up for the fact that I didn't really feel like going on a walk just yet. I had turned on the TV in the living room, just to have some sort of background noise aside from the few birds chirping up in the bare trees.

When Loki came back from somewhere behind the garage, dropping the wooden stick into my lap, the phone began ringing. With a dragged out sigh I got out of the chair, patting my leg to signify him to follow me.

I let the phone ring once more before I picked up, remaining silent.

"Luce? It's me, Steve. Are you there? Is everything okay?"

I felt relief flood through me when I heard my best friends voice. "Not really. He sort of waited for me at home and beat me up. But my cousin left a police dog here before he went back home and he scared my father away," I quickly explained, knowingly leaving out the part about him trying to kill me.

"Shit. That fucker. Do you want me to come over?" He asked, and I imagined him pacing through the living room, running his hand through his hair. Like a lost puppy. I almost smiled at the thought.

"I'm alright, don't worry. You wanted to get some stuff done anyway, right?" - "Yeah but that was before that asshole turned up. If you want I'll bring some movies and pick up some pizza and we can have a sleepover? That way you won't have to be alone."

As much as I wanted to refuse, knowing that at some point in the middle of the night I would break down once the shock had settled in completely, and that really wasn't a fun experience. Then again, maybe having someone here would be helpful. Or it wouldn't. Maybe I could just draw all night long.

"Look ... honestly that sounds great but I'm pretty sure I have a concussion so I guess movie night isn't the smartest thing to do. I should probably just catch up on the sleep I didn't get the last couple days," I explained, giving Loki a treat for calmly sitting there and waiting.

"Oh ... Okay then. Are you sure?" - "Yeah. Everything alright with you?" I heard him scoff. "You were literally just beaten up by your dad and you're asking ME if I'm okay?" - "Well, are you?"

It was quiet for a bit. "Just thinking too much," Steve then said, letting out a sigh.  
"You need to talk?" I offered, leaning my shoulder against the wall. "I guess I'll think a little longer and maybe get back to you tomorrow."

"Alright then. I'll see you at school," I said and wanted to hang up, when he stopped me. "You're gonna come back?" - "I think so. Being around other people is probably the safest I can be; he wouldn't be dumb enough to attack me when there's other adults lurking around everywhere."

"Yeah that makes sense. I'll see you tomorrow then. Sweet dreams," He said, and I could make out a slight chuckle in his voice. "You too, and don't think too much."  
I hung up, patting Lokis head before heading towards the kitchen to make myself some dinner. I wasn't exactly hungry but I knew I needed to eat at least something.

∞

A tiny serving of bacon and eggs later I went outside again, playing with Loki for a little longer, until it was too cold even in the parka I had put on. The dog himself seemed to be a little tired, so we went back inside, I quickly showered, renewing the band aids on my back.

"Been an exciting day, huh?" I said to Loki while walking back over to the phone, calling Hopper just to inform him about today's events.

He of course insisted I should go see a doctor, but with some whining I convinced him to leave me at home and let Cameron and his parents handle the official business.

∞

Once I was all cuddled up in my blankets and several pillows, Loki laying down next to me, eyes barely open anymore, everything poured down on me.

The one person I had tried to get away from and succeeded for such a long time had now found me. And he had hurt me. He even intended on killing me if there was no other option.

Closing my eyes I buried my face in the pillows, trying to make sense of what had happened.

I was used to horrible things when it came to my father, but him saying he would kill me if he had to really did surprise me. Would he actually have the guts to pull the trigger? He didn't hesitate to fire bullets at Loki. I didn't know what I would have done if he hurt Loki.

Images started rushing through my mind. Steve, blood running out of his mouth and a hole in his chest. 

Next to him Jonathan, dead as well. 

Cameron, dead. 

Hopper, dead. 

Billy, dead.

My father towering over their corpses, glancing at me with a grin so purely evil it made me want to vomit.

I opened my eyes wide, tears streaming down my face.

Why did things always have to end up like this? I wasn't even asleep yet everything was a nightmare. Everything had changed so suddenly. One moment I was happily having breakfast, and the next thing I knew was this numb feeling inside my chest when Hopper told me my father had been seen.

Everything, all the rage and hate and sadness seemed to rush into my conscience all at once.

I clawed into the pillow, crying out loud.  
Burying my head once again I let out a long scream.

I screamed until my throat was sore.

I screamed until there were no tears left.

And then, much later that night, I drifted into a deep sleep without any dreams.


	12. White Noise

I woke up to Loki laying down on my feet. My eyes burned, my throat was awfully dry and I had a terrible headache.

Glancing at the clock on my bedside table I sighed, stretching a bit before forcing myself to actually get up and change out of my pyjamas. Loki whinced quietly before getting up as well, awake enough to jump around the room just a minute later.

I went downstairs, grabbed the dog leash from the kitchen table and slipped on my boots, waiting for Loki to stop panting so much.

As soon as we left the house he began pulling me into various directions and I needed several attempts to convince him to follow me into the woods. Not my favourite path to take but barely anyone wanted to be in those woods anyway ever since Will had disappeared a year ago, which meant the chances of meeting anyone were almost zero.

The dog, thoroughly excited to be outside again and going on a proper walk, marked his territory several times and kept bringing me sticks to play fetch. That way the shortcut to the Byers house actually took much longer than going by car.

When i knocked at the door realisation hit me, that by now I must've had a few bruises all over my face and most likely even a black eye.

Quickly checking my reflection in the window I covered the worst with strands of my messy hair, pulling the hood of my sweater over my head as well. I didn't recall anything besides getting changed this morning either.   
Shit. I was really out of it this time.

"Oh Lucy, how nice to see you!" Joyce exclaimed after opening the door, smiling brightly. "I just wanted to ask if you need anything from the store? I'm going grocery shopping later and thought I'd ask if I can get you guys anything while I'm there?"

Furrowing her brows she pointed into the air. "Actually … Will … um he seems to have a bit of a fever. If you could get us something for that, that would be awesome. I'll give you the money of course, just a second."

She disappeared back into the house and I leaned against the doorframe. When she returned and handed me some money, I smiled wishing her a nice day and turned around to walk to the store way down the road.

I had a free period first thing in the morning so I figured that coming in late would be something clever to do. First of all I had to go get some new makeup to cover up whatever the hell was going on in my face at the moment. Then I needed the usual groceries, I would stock up on food for a bit as well, and of course get the stuff for Will.

I wondered if he was doing okay. Already the way Jonathan asked me about noticing anything odd made me a little suspicious. But if there was something going on they would tell me, wouldn't they?  
Or maybe not.   
Maybe we had drifted apart after being so close during such a difficult time.

People were like that.

Tying Lokis leash to a pole behind the grocery store I sighed, grabbing a cart before entering the facility.

It took me less than twenty minutes to get everything together, pay and leave without anyone noticing my bruised face. Good.

Loki jumped up on his feet, furiously wagging his tail when I came back outside, trying to somehow organise all the bags I was now carrying. I should've thought this through more thoroughly.

Against all odds I arrived at home just in time, after having dropped by at Joyce's to bring her the stuff she needed. I gave Loki something to eat and drink, quickly covered my black eye with my newly acquired makeup, and headed towards the door after picking up my bag.

Loki had curled up on the couch, looking at me as I told him to just stay calm and wait here the next few hours, genuinely hoping nothing would happen to him.

∞

When I pulled up into my usual spot in the schools parking lot everything seemed quiet. Lighting a cigarette after getting out of the car I leaned against the door, staring up at the sky.

The clouds from earlier this morning had loosened up a bit, the sun breaking through the gaps, giving everything around a slightly golden shade.

It was nice. Nobody talking, nobody even present, no danger at all.

I took one last drag, throwing the stub to the ground before stepping on it.

"Alright then. Here we go," I mumbled to myself, checking my makeup once more, before I heard the bell ring and walked up to the building.

Heading straight to the English classroom without really paying attention to anyone or anything around me, I just muted everything else. It was nothing more than white noise.

∞

"Are you feeling better, Ms Lockwood?" The teacher asked right next to me and I jumped a little, nodding to answer his question. Seemingly satisfied with my reply he went back to the front and scribbled something on the board.

People started pouring into the room and I opened my sketchbook, finishing the sketch from a few days ago.

A few minutes into the lesson a note was placed on my desk and I picked it up to throw it at whoever it was destined for, but noticed my name written down on the folded piece of paper. Then suddenly the door flew open and Steve stumbled inside, quickly apologising to Mr Brown. He looked at me, worried, and I managed to smile slightly. "Break?" He mouthed and I nodded.

My best friend began unpacking his stuff and I unwrapped the note.

Mask off for a second.  
Are you alright? I mean did you get enough sleep? I assume you covered the worst up so people won't ask any questions. Anyway have you heard anything new yet?

I scribbled a quick reply, letting him know I was alright and I did get some sleep, and that I in fact hadn't heard anything new so far. I tossed the paper over Billys shoulder, then resumed drawing for the rest of class.

When the bell rang I got up right away, Steve was still getting all of his things together, as Billy quickly turned around.

"If anything happens, let me know."


	13. Running

"So you're saying he could have just easily killed you, right then and there?!" Steve exclaimed, throwing his hands over his head. "Shh! He didn't, okay?" I insisted, yawning.

"BUT HE COULD HAVE!" By now there were a few people staring at us, probably wondering what Steve was getting so riled up about. Shaking my head I wrapped my jacket around me and continued staring at the floor.

"We'll sue him. We will try to get Cameron as my legal guardian, that would be the best of course. I have more than fifty cases of abuse and assault, and those are the ones I can remember enough to explain them further if needed. Once the charge has been made the police will find him, I don't know how but they will, I'm trying to be positive here."

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him and said yes, although every fibre of my body was screaming no. I wouldn't bother him with this. He had enough trouble going on himself.

If I opened up to others too much, if I let people in, I would break. I would have to admit to myself that all of this was happening and that I was not okay but I refused to accept that. I was already broken enough. 

One small crack and everything could just fall apart.

And I was just too scared of that.

The rest of the break was spent in complete silence and when the bell rang we got up and headed for the locker rooms. The weather was better again, so we would resume doing track, which meant running half the time, sitting around the other half.

I'd have to go and check up on my makeup every now and then, just to be sure everything stayed in place.

∞

Most of the girls were already done changing and I quickly followed them, joining in on the warm-up exercises a bit later. After that we were sent off to run five laps minimum, free to run more if we wanted.

About one and half a lap later the boys poured out of the side door, jogging towards the basketball court outside.  
I quickly glanced at Steve who was already busy getting into a fight with Billy. Again.

Focusing on my breathing I turned away. I pushed myself forward, falling into a comfortable and relatively fast pace by the third lap.

The fresh air was rushing through my lungs, I felt my heartbeat resonating all through my chest up to my neck, imagined it pumping the blood through my veins.  
Keeping me alive.

I was alive.   
Physically, at least.

Shaking my head I banished any thought from my head and just took in the here and now. The patter of the other girls' feet all around, the hollow thud of the ball against the blue tartan, the cold November breeze rustling through the treetops.

Little by little the group around me grew smaller, at some point even the last girl sat down and I was the only one left running. I had always been a strong runner; the teacher even tried convincing me of participating in competitions but I could never agree, since a possible win and the local press coverage would help my dad find me.

But now all of that didn't matter anymore. He had found me. He knew where I was. And I was still alive.  
Physically, at least.

Suddenly I felt pain piercing through my thighs and my lungs felt like they were about to burst. I hadn't noticed I'd started to run faster. I slowed down, almost walking now, trying to breathe properly. Finishing off the last lap I dropped down onto the tracks, staring up into the sky. The others were busy watching the guys play basketball, when the coach walked up to me.

"You okay, Lockwood?" I nodded, taking deep breaths. "Too bad you didn't participate last month, I'm sure we could have won that thing with you on our team."  
When he noticed he wasn't going to get a reply out of me he turned around again, after telling me to relax for the rest of class seeing as I had spent more than half an hour just running.

I sat back up after a while, a few strands of hair that had escaped from my ponytail falling into my face. Sighing I picked up my water bottle at the side of the tracks, walking over to the bleachers to sit down and watch the boys a bit.

"Come to see the show, huh?" A shirtless Billy asked while walking past me, winked and I rolled my eyes at his remark. There it was; the asshole.

The remaining class was filled with relatively high quality plays, some bickering between Billy and Steve, which by now seemed to become something regular, and soon enough I went back to the locker room to shower before everyone else showed up. I hurried putting on my makeup and just as I finished drying my hair the door flew open and the other girl's poured in, and I left, heading outside right away.

Steve and I had decided to have lunch outside, by my car, just so we could talk. A few minutes later I heard him mutter a couple of swears under his breath as he walked towards me and I sat up straight in the drivers seat.

"Is everything okay?" I asked as soon as he arrived, looking more annoyed than ever.  
"Do you know where Jonathan or Nancy are?" He snapped and I shook my head.  
"Why?" - "They seem to be out of town. Together." - "Who said that?"

"Tommy," Steve mumbled, sliding into the passengers seat. "And you believe that? I mean it's Tommy, he's a dick." - "He is but ... ah I don't know man. By the way, have you ever talked to that Billy guy? He's a massive asshole as well."

I raised an eyebrow. "What'd he do?" - "He's just being childish. And dumb. He's just a rude douchebag."

Slowly nodding my head I scanned the parking lot for any signs of my father. "Yeah I guess so," I muttered and longingly looked at the pack of cigarettes on the backseat.

"Anyway people are assholes sometimes and we can't change that, now can we?" I concluded, leaning against the headrest.

But maybe it was worth trying to at least bring out the good, that was still somewhere in there deep down...


	14. The Beginning of the End

When I got home that day, the phone had already been ringing when I opened the door. I quickly shut it behind me, throwing my stuff to the ground; Loki came running towards me wagging his tail while I hurried to get to the phone.

"Oh thank God you're there. I'm back home now," Cameron said. "How are you?" - "He was at school yesterday. And later he waited for me at home." - "Did he do anything to you?" His voice had gone serious within a matter of seconds. "...Yes. But I'm okay, really. Just tell me what you wanted to tell me."

I heard him take a few deep breaths before continuing.

"We have someone to take over the case, one of the best, my mom said. I need you to do a few things though, is that alright?" - "Mhm, of course!"

"Alright so ... first of all I need you to go to Hopper and report him. As soon as possible, so they can find him quickly. That should be easy to do I think. The next thing might be a little more difficult but it will ensure you to win the case. Think back at every time someone noticed something was wrong, do you think there are people?" - "Only two. The teacher who asked me about my bruises before I was homeschooled, and yesterday somebody was there when he showed up at Hawkins High," I explained, pondering whether I could ask Billy for even more help after all he had done for me the day before.

"Good," My cousin said, "The next is probably going to be the hardest, possibly draining and if you need help with that you can wait until I'm back there with you. Try to collect as many cases of abuse and assault as you can remember, maybe you have some old diaries that you can go through or something. Okay?" - "Yeah. I think I can manage that. Is that all?"

Cameron laughed. "I think that's more than enough. I'll be back next week I think. If you need anything go to Hopper or someone else at the station, hang in there short stuff." - "You take care as well, yeah? Love you."

"Love you too."

I hung up before he could add anything else and sat down on the ground; Loki immediately buried his head in my lap and I drew circles on his back while staring at the couch. All this felt so surreal. It felt as though I'd never left Seattle, yet at the same time everything was so different and somehow even more of a mess.

I picked up the dog leash and made Loki follow me outside and get into the car after having placed some newspapers on the floor.

The dog didn't seem to mind the little drive and as I pulled up to the police station I put on his leash, getting permission to take him inside.

"Just wait in here, I'm sure he's going to be here in no time," The woman who had brought me into his office said, smiling at me. Loki paced around the small room, sniffing everything there was to sniff while I removed my makeup, closing my eyes afterwards.

Just as I was about to fall asleep the door flew open and Hopper and another officer walked in. Jim sat down at his desk, scanning my bruised face worriedly, while the other guy stood behind him awkwardly.

"Miss Lockwood?" Hopper said, indirectly asking me to get to the point right away.  
"I would like to report Mister Michael Lockwood in numerous cases of assault," I said, my voice stronger than I had expected it to be. The man behind Jim, who seemed to write down everything I said, looked up.

"When exactly did the last one occur?" He asked, clicking his pen impatiently, making me nervous.  
"Yesterday, around 2 in the afternoon," I answered, tugging at my jeans.

"We will have to take a few pictures of your injuries and have you checked by a doctor," Hopper concluded. "We'll send out an APB meanwhile so we can find him as soon as possible."  
I nodded, Loki was resting his head on my legs.

"We can't do that without any proof!" The other guy interfered and I rolled my eyes.  
"Look at my goddamn face! I ran away from home two years ago because of that asshole and now he has stalked me all the way over to this tiny shithole. You can inspect the massive mental damage he left on me over the last four years of my life as well if you want!"

I stopped myself from talking more and just now realised I had gotten out of my seat, apologising for the outbreak before sitting down again.

"Send out the APB now, okay?" - "Yes," The man said and left the office just before I buried my face in my hands.  
"Okay then. The doctor will be here in a bit, then you will get proper medical attention. Is everything alright?"

I shook my head, looking at Hopper. "Yeah of course. I'm great."  
"Look, I know how difficult this is for you but-" I interrupted him. "I don't want to talk about it right now. Please."  
He nodded, lighting a cigarette while leaning back in his chair.

∞

"We will need to fix up two or three of the cuts on your back and then we're done," The doctor explained, the nurse returning with the tranquilizer just a few moments later, beginning to prepare the small room I was in.

Stitching my back together didn't take as long as I had expected it to, but it was also more painful than I thought so I was only happy once it was over.

"Please come back on Monday for another checkup and you should be good to go. I will hand over all the information to the police station in a minute. In case of further questions feel free to pay me another visit, of course also when something seems odd. Have a nice weekend."

Before I could say anything else they left the room and I sighed, got up and put on my jacket again.  
When i returned to the main room of the station Loki ran up to me, barking once before I patted his head.

Saying goodbye to Jim I left the building; the sun was shining and I put on my sunglasses after sliding into my car. The dog sat down next to me, panting, wagging his tail, and I smiled.

"This was the easiest part, you know? This was just the beginning, and it's not gonna be easy."


	15. Pizza

I returned home late that day, after going on a long walk with Loki, bumping into Mrs Henderson who accused my dog of having eaten her cat Mews. She seemed extremely lost so I offered her my help which she rejected, but she left me alone after I assured her Loki had been inside most of the day anyways. 

I hoped nothing had happened to that cute little fluff ball. She was so worried about her cat she didn't even notice what happened to my face, fortunately.

∞

"About time you show up. I was almost worried," Someone said and I jumped when I noticed the shadowy figure on the front porch. Loki only started wagging his tail and once I got closer I recognised Billys face.

"Don't ask, I don't really know why I'm here either," He said before I could even open my mouth. "But I brought pizza."

Holding up said pizza he grinned and I let out a laugh, unlocking the door. Loki almost immediately jumped towards his food bowl and I quickly gave him something to eat, before throwing my jacket onto the couch. I would have to remember to go get a new coffee table at some point.

Stretching my arms I walked over to the kitchen, getting two cans of soda. When I got back to the living room Billy had set down the pizza on a chair which he had pulled over to the couch.

I dropped down next to him, handing him one of the soda cans.

"I know you'd prefer beer but I don't have any of that here at the moment," I explained, opening my own drink before taking a sip.

"No worries, I only get drunk to be able to endure the stupidity of everyone around me," He said, winking at me before grabbing a slice of pizza and I rolled my eyes yet again. "Anyway I saw your car in front of the police station when I brought Max to the Arcade earlier..."

I nodded, taking a bite of the pizza as well. "I um ... reported my father. They made me see a doctor and took photos and everything." Now Billy nodded and opened his soda. "So you're going to get this settled officially now, I see. You don't seem too calm or happy though." - "Well I guess ... it's a bit more complicated than that."  
Trying to brush it off I finished off on the slice without saying anything else. Billy cleared his throat.

"If you need a witness, I'd be more than willing to help you, just so you know," He said, staring over at Loki.  
"... Thank you."

I turned on the TV and switched over to MTV just to have some sort of background noise while we ate in silence. It was weird. I myself did have a mask for whenever I left the house but it wasn't so extremely different from my usual self. Then again I wasn't too sure about who I really was either. Why did everything always have to be so awfully complicated and confusing?

"Anyway ... I never asked you what you do in your free time," Billy said, looking back at me. I furrowed my brows. "Well, frankly I never asked either."

Loki jumped up on the couch with us and curled himself up next to me as I crossed my legs.

"I know you draw a lot, at least you do that in class. Is that something you wanna do later on?" Now I nodded, adding "Not something that is easily accepted in a family of doctors and lawyers. Same with Cameron, he wants to be a writer. I guess we're the two outcasts of our family."

Billy laughed. "But that's cool. I mean not going along with what everyone else wants you to do, because you want something else. That's brave." - "It's not brave. If anything it's naive because as fun as it is, it isn't very secure unless you find some loyal clients," I explained, patting Lokis back.

"So you're already making money?" Billy asked and I turned down the TV volume a bit.  
"Sort of. I sell my art to collectors if they want it, I design characters for writers or I participate in visual novels. Just whatever. Well ... what do you do?"

He seemed to think for a while.  
"I work out a lot, I listen to music a lot. Guess that's much less interesting, I'm not really talented in the creative realm. Things were much better back in Cali anyways." Scratching the back of his head awkwardly he leaned back, taking in another swig of soda.

"You're not really a friend of this whole patchwork thing your dad wants to work out so badly, are you?" - "Exactly. I'm just waiting for graduation and then I'm getting out of here. Why'd you come to Hawkins by the way, out of all places available?"

I sat up straight and Loki adjusted, his head now resting on my legs. "It's a tiny ass shithole that nobody would normally expect someone to run away to. But in hindsight I guess the anonymity of a big city would have been a better hiding spot ... Okay this is gonna sound ridiculous, but I've come to quite like this place. It felt like a safe haven until- well you know." Vaguely gesturing towards the room I shrugged, shaking my head. Not even the whole issue with Hawkins Lab could make me feel unsafe here, it was more of a general danger and there were not as many annoying emotions attached to it. Just thinking about having to go through my old diaries caused my stomach to twitch.

∞

"Are you alright here? You know, all by yourself ...", He asked, standing up.  
I nodded. "I am, don't worry about it."

"Good."

I got up as well, accompanying him to the porch, where I stared up at the sky. It was almost full moon.

As a kid I'd always sneak out of my room late at night after everyone else had gone to sleep or left for work. I'd go up to the small library which had a giant glass wall, and like that I'd sit there and draw pictures of the moon until I fell asleep on the heap of pillows.

Smiling, I shook my head. That was a long time ago. It almost felt like a lifetime.

"So I'll um ... head home then," Billy said and I looked up.  
"Ah yeah sure. Thanks for being here."

"I actually quite enjoyed our little talk, definitely worth cancelling that date." He grinned smugly after seeing me smile as well.

"Well let's hope said date isn't too angry at you." - "So what."


	16. Demadogs

When I finished the fifth sketch for some new characters I noticed that it had started to rain a while ago. Glancing at the clock I realised I had been awake all night long, busy distracting myself from getting started on my diaries.

I wondered how much longer I could procrastinate on this thing - probably until a couple days before the trial, in case they would even find my father. There had been almost an entire day in between him attacking me and me reporting him to the police. By now he could be in Canada for all I knew.

With a deep sigh I set the sketches aside and got out of my chair, stretching my legs and arms as much as possible, before heading downstairs to have breakfast - or lunch at this point.

Loki paced around my legs the entire time, only interrupted when he was busy with his own food. After that - and after the rain had stopped - we went out for a walk in the woods, when suddenly he began pulling at the leash as though he had seen something.

Confused I followed him, and he continued to distinctly pull me into a certain direction. If I was to meet my father here, in the middle of nowhere, in the woods out of all places, there really was no escape other than running.

Soon enough we arrived at the train tracks and I almost fell over some shrubbery. I could just pull Loki back before he could eat something that was laying around on the tracks.

Raw meat?

In fact, there seemed to be an entire trail of raw meat all the way down the tracks. Careful to keep some space between Loki and the meat, just in case someone had laid out poisoned bait, I followed the line of meat.

"Don't you dare eat any of that!" I said and pulled my dog away from a huge pile of meat, only to realise we had arrived at the old junkyard.

Why would anyone leave a path of raw meat that lead to an old junkyard? That didn't make any sense at all.

Keeping the leash short, just in case, I took a closer look to see if anything was different. 

Suddenly something to my left moved and I immediately pointed the gun towards it.  
"Wow, easy there," Steve said and I furrowed my brows, lowering the weapon.  
"What the hell are you doing here?" - "I could ask you the same," I said, looking around, only to spot Dustin, Lucas and a ginger girl their age.

"It's nothing really. I'm just babysitting," He explained and I raised an eyebrow. "Since when exactly do you babysit?"  
"Well I-"  
"And since when do you need a baseball bat with nails in it for babysitting?!"  
"You see-"  
He was interrupted by Dustin approaching us, waving.

"You didn't tell me you called Lucy to help?" He said, smiling up at me whole the other two came over as well.

"Help? Dustin what's going on?" I asked, pulling Loki a little closer to my side.  
"Steve didn't tell you? Okay I'll give you the short version. I found a baby demogorgon in my trashcan on Halloween night but didn't know what it was until I found it feeding on my cat and then I trapped him but he ran away so now here we are, trying to catch him," Dustin explained in a hurry and I blinked a couple times.

"It ate Mews?!" - "Yea but that's not the point. The point is we need to catch Dart before he ... kills again." Dustin looked down, he seemed upset. "Anyway it's good you're here now, we can use all the help we can get!"   
Lucas nodded.

"Yeah hey Dustin ... I don't think that's a good idea actually," Steve intervened and I looked back at him.

"Alright Steve, listen, I'm not weak or anything," I said, rolling my eyes. "I know I know brotherly instinct, you already told me that, but I want to help and you know just as well as I do, that you won't stop me from helping. Just like Dustin said, the more people the better."  
My best friend frowned, looking to the ground defeatedly.

"Can I know who she is anyway?" The ginger girl asked, still looking confused. Now Lucas spoke up.  
"That's Lucy, she helped us last year when all those ... things happened."

She stretched out her hand for me to shake. "I'm Max." Oh right, Billys step-sister. She didn't seem too bad actually, at least from the impression i could get so far.

The guys prepared some last things I didn't really manage to understand, so I just joined Max on the old bus, where we sat in silence and she occasionally patted Lokis back.

∞

Darkness settled in and it quickly grew colder, as the fog outside narrowed our vision significantly.

At some point Lucas and Max climbed up onto the roof and Steve talked to Dustin, but I didn't listen. I just stared outside of the window, the gun in my hand, waiting for something to move.

It felt weird.  
Not the fact that we were hunting a demogorgon, no, but the fact that a demogorgon running free out there scared me much less than my father being out there somewhere. The thought of him knowing exactly where I was, that if the police didn't find him, I would either have to leave, or have to live with the constant fear of him showing up on my doorstep again. As crazy as it sounded, I would much rather just be killed by a demogorgon than to be mentally tortured like before I got away from my parents.

It was insane how some things just happened, and we didn't have a single bit of control over it.

"LUCE!" Someone yelled and I jumped, hitting my head against the window on accident.  
"Is everything alright?" I just nodded, focusing back on the mist outside.

I was almost entirely sure Steve wanted to ask further but he didn't, and I was incredibly thankful to that.

Suddenly I saw something move, at the same moment Lucas gave us exact directions from the roof.

"The bait. Why isn't he taking the bait?" Dustin muttered, sounding distressed.  
Steve sighed as he got up. "Maybe he's just sick of cow."

My eyes shot wide open. "Steve no!"

He looked me dead in the eye and nodded, grabbing his baseball bat, as he reached out to open the door.

"I trust you've got my back in case something goes wrong." Now I nodded, holding up the gun, and gulped.

Steve stepped outside of the bus and walked towards the pile of cow meat, mumbling something I couldn't quite understand. He stopped, planting his feet properly, while holding up the bat.  
"He's mad, I'm telling you," Dustin mumbled and I sighed, not looking away for even a second.

All of a sudden there were more shadows. More growling.

"Oh shit."

"STEVE GET BACK HERE!" I yelled, desperately wanting to shoot but I knew that would only make them angry and not actually do any harm.

"I'm a little busy here guys," He said, getting ready to fight, probably not realising there was more than one by now.

"STEVE THERE'S MORE!"

"ABORT!!"

Steve turned around, leaping back to the bus, smacking a bunch of those things in the process, and slammed the door shut. Lucas and Max came back down and we all crouched on the floor. Nobody said anything, Loki began growling quietly and just a few moments later we could make out noises from outside of the bus. Something jumped onto the bus and I released the safety catch, taking a deep breath. 

If I hit it correctly it would at least be stunned for a bit and maybe Steve could hit it while Dustin lit the fire. Then again ... any of that was unlikely to happen.

Everyone seemed to have stopped breathing.

Even Loki stopped growling and was now curled up next to me, wincing in fear. At least he wasn't scared of my father.  
I shook my head to regain focus.

It grew darker and when I looked up I saw a head appearing at the hole in the roof. Max screamed. Steve jumped up and began yelling at it before I could pull the trigger, and now his head was in the way.  
The thing looked more than ready to eat him, when it suddenly jerked around and ran off.

"Did you scare them away?!" Dustin asked excitedly but my best friend shook his head. "They're headed somewhere else."

I climbed out of the bus, followed by the others, and what we saw down behind the woods couldn't mean any good.

The Lab.


	17. Waiting

The next two hours felt like an awful blur to me. We walked down to the Lab where we encountered Nancy and Jonathan.  
After we managed to get inside the vicinity I only saw Mike and Will as well as Hopper outside already.

Steve grabbed my arm and ran over to a van, asking me to hotwire it since he knew I could do that. Looking back at the others and remembering the demogorgons I snatched the bat from Steve and smashed it into the cars window, opening the vehicle from the inside. Hotwiring would have taken up too much time.

We drove over to the Byers' house as fast as we could and barricaded the doors as safely as possible. After tracing around for a while I sat down on the couch, Loki trailing up next to me as Nancy looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey what happened to your face?"

Shit. The makeup must've come off.

"It's nothing to worry about," I insisted and began patting Lokis back, signalling her that the conversation was over. As per usual, she didn't understand.

"Luce, you have an actual back eye and cuts all over your face. Don't tell me it's nothing." - "Well then let me rephrase it: It is none of your business."

She let out an indefinable scoff before getting up again to walk over to Jonathan. Were we just going to play the waiting game now? Probably.

I was quite good at that.

I resumed observing the others a bit, until it slowly started to get uncomfortable and I looked down on my hands that were folded in my lap. The cuts were starting to heal whereas some had started bleeding again and I cursed myself for not putting on any band aids. With a sigh I got up from the couch, Loki winced and I walked over to Jonathan who was kneeling next to Will.  
"Do you guys happen to have any band aids?" I asked quietly and he nodded, telling me where I could find the first aid kit.

Trying be as quiet as possible I practically tip toed over to the bathroom, got the first aid kit and washed my hands, staring at my own reflection in the mirror.

"You will not disobey me."

My father appeared behind me for a split second and disappeared just as quickly.

"You will do as I say."

I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I turned the tap over so that the water would become even colder than it already was. My body started to tremble unstoppably.

"Either you come back home with me, or it all ends right here and now."

I splashed a handful of ice cold water into my face and felt a shiver running down my spine. I closed my eyes and pressed my cold hands to my face, sitting down on the rim of the bathtub.

"It's gonna be okay. The APB has been sent out. We have a good lawyer. They're gonna find him. It's gonna be okay," I kept repeating to myself as a mantra, taking deep breaths.

Someone knocked at the door and I jumped, almost stumbling over my own feet.

"Luce? Everything okay in there?" Steve asked and I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat.  
"Yeah!" I replied, my voice giving up on me. He opened the door and kneeled down in front of me.

"What's wrong?" The door closed behind him and he took my hand in his. "I told you to stay at home."

I shook my head. "I know, I know you did. But ... I needed to do something, I couldn't just sit around and wait and drown in memories. I just let it get to me for a second, that's all," I insisted, rubbing my cheeks to wipe away the tears.

"You know you can't keep bottling everything up like this, don't you?" Nodding I placed my free hand on top of his and forced a smile.

He got back up, opened the first aid kit and began patching up my hands. "How'd that happen anyway?" - "I broke a vase." - "Of course you did."

Steve smiled at me as he finished off the last bit, putting an arm around my shoulders. "You're gonna be okay, Luce, and I'm always gonna be here for you. Don't you ever forget that."

I got up and put the first aid kit back into the cabinet, then turned around to look at my best friend.

"This sucks." - "Huh?" - "All of this. I dunno it feels like the universe doesn't want us to finally get some rest."

Steve sighed and pulled me into his arms.  
"Look, yes everything does suck right now, I won't even try to deny this. But things will be okay at some point, and we should hold on until then, no matter what."

Nuzzling my face into his chest I wrapped my arms around his waist and hummed in response. "I hope so."

∞

I retreated to my place on the couch next to Loki who climbed over my lap just to lie down on the other side, staying awake and seemingly alert.

"So are you and Lucy like together?" Dustin asked and Steve slapped his forehead a bit too hard.

"We're not," I said, chuckling and the boy furrowed his brows.

"Didn't look like it though," He insisted and I sighed, not even asking how he had seen us. Probably opened the door and neither of us really took notice of it.

"Look, Dustin, boys and girls can be just friends as well, you know?" Steve nodded in agreement. "Friends like all of you guys, it's not that complicated." We looked at each other for a second, and I was almost 100% positive we both thought about how ridiculously ironic this statement seemed at the current time.

Suddenly the phone began to ring and we all jumped, Nancy ran over and picked up, placing it back in the handle to hang up again. It kept ringing.

In the matter of seconds she pulled out the entire phone along with the cables from the wall and smashed it into the ground, silencing it once and for all.

We all stood there, staring down at the floor for a few moments, only to move back to the living room and grab a weapon each.

This was going to be a long night...


	18. Eleven

I wasn't sure about how much time had passed so far exactly, but it certainly had been a while.

They had brought Will back to the house and into his bedroom a while ago. Everybody was awfully tense and for a few minutes I even regretted having joined Steve and the others on their mission to find and kill Dustins demogorgon. It started to get on my nerves how they were hovering, as if someone would just walk in and shoot all of us any moment. But we would notice - it was too quiet not to.  
Besides, we had Loki and he would most definitely react to any sort of noise from outside, especially if it was a demogorgon. I was sure they had some sort of negative energy widely radiating around them.

"Nancy could you please sit down!?" I snapped and she jumped, instinctively pointing her gun towards me. "Jeez, calm down, it won't get us anywhere if you end up collapsing because your body starts to produce too much adrenaline. And before you ask, yes that's a thing that can happen." - "I know that!" She fired back and I sighed. "Of course you do."

"Oh what's that irony supposed to mean? Huh!?"

She really was on edge today - or at least more than usual.

I leaned back and stared at the ceiling, slowly massaging my temple at the headache that was starting to form. I heard Nancy scoff yet again and Steve sat back down on the floor in front of me.

"If I'm gonna hear one more 'Told you to stay home' from you I'm actually gonna murder you," I said and held up my hand. "Yes I probably still have a concussion. Yes my anxiety is skyrocketing after what happened. Yes I'd much rather be asleep in my bed right now. But I'm here now and what kind of an awful person would I be if I just bailed on you guys now. Plus you can bet your ass I'm not leaving with all those things out there."

My best friend suppressed a laugh and smiled at me. "I forgot how much you tend to talk when you're on edge." - "Ha Ha, real funny Harrington." - "Alright sorry, it isn't funny, I get it." He held up his hands in defense again and smiled sheepishly.

How on earth had Nancy dumped him for Jonathan - I mean I understood, shared trauma and all that, plus he was fairly attractive as well I had to admit, still just dumping Steve like that ... I shook my head and pulled myself back into reality.

Whatever they did with their relationships - it was none of my business really. I just wished Steve wouldn't be so hurt, because when he was hurt he looked like a puppy who out got kicked by someone, and that only made things worse.

There was a sudden noise outside and all of us jumped up, Loki ran over to the door and began growling. I grabbed the closest thing to a weapon that I could find and ended up with a plank of wood. Wait a sec you have a gun, my inner voice reminded me and I sighed, looking around.

Without a word I took the candle holder Mike had picked up and gave him the plank as I pulled out the gun from behind the couch pillows. He gave me a quick nod before focusing on the door again, while I aimed at the window.

"What's happening out there?" Dustin asked and at least three people shushed him.

There were several demadogs out there, judging from what I could hear. But it wasn't just them - there was something else, and possibly stronger and more dangerous.

It sounded like there was a fight; we all lined up and aimed at either door or window. I waited for Hopper to give us some sort of instruction but he didnt say anything. Why wasnt he saying anything?!  
The screeching from the demadogs suddenly stopped, i stepped forward a bit, when something came crashing through the window and I jumped back, almost knocking over the coffee table.

Then everything was quiet.

I took a few deep breaths and examined the body that had almost knocked me out just a few seconds ago. It was one of them, one of the demadogs.

"Is it dead?"

Hopper walked over to me and shoved it to the side with his foot, nodding at us.

We all exchanged a few worried looks when someone began unlocking the door from outside and I readjusted my gun, releasing the safety catch.

I could feel the electricity in the air as we all held our breaths, only waiting to either attack the intruder or be attacked.

But when the door slowly opened there was no demadog or demogorgon or any other monster.

It was Eleven.

I only heard Mike drop the plank and walk up to the front as the girl looked at him intently - she'd changed a lot. She was wearing all black, thick eyeliner and had her hair styled to the back. She looked really badass, but it was rather unfitting considering her age ... then again, who was I to judge.

"Eleven?" - "Mike!"

They fell into each other's arms and just held each other for a while; talking quietly but I didn't pay much attention to what they were saying and instead stared down on the dead monster at my feet.

Suddenly Jim pulled Mike over to another room and shut the door behind them - all I could hear was Mike yelling until everything grew silent.

We all exchanged a few worried looks before Eleven greeted everyone, gave me a short nod and went to hug Joyce.

I dropped back down on the couch as Loki was still growling at the dead demadog - Steve let out a deep sigh and placed his bat next to the kitchen table. 

Joyce and Eleven went over to Wills room after some time while the rest of us stayed in the main area of the small house. It grew silent again, the electricity from before still lingering in the air. There were some discussions going on but I wasn't listening any more. I just wanted this to be over and sleep for two weeks.

"Okay, guys," Hopper walked in and we all gathered around him as El and Joyce came back as well. "The- the thing likes it cold, like Will said. Joyce and Jonathan are gonna take him to a place he doesn't know and try burn out the thing from his body. We need to look for anything that produces heat, the more the better. Eleven and me are gonna go to the Lab and she will close the gate." - "And what about us?", Dustin asked.

Hopper shook his head. "You're staying back here. Steve and Lucy will be looking after you, don't you even think about doing something stupid, alright?"

Quickly everybody swarmed out to look for and collect heaters - soon enough loading everything into Jonathan's car.

Nancy was going to leave with them as well, to my surprise Steve had asked her to do so.

We stood on the porch as the two cars drove off into the night, leaving us behind ...


End file.
